Borrowing Christmas
by Smiling-Fox
Summary: Focuses on Cell 7.The token Naruto X-mas story! When a boy with no family goes looking for one, will anyone try to bring him back...? Of course they will! Please R&R, rating is for language, as always. FINISHED! Merry Christams!
1. Meaning

Yes, yes—this is what happens when you're trying to update your Naruto Fan fiction and all you hear is Christmas music! It's a theme that's been done, and re-done, and re-re-done, but I can't help but want to try my hand at it! Besides, it's a perfect opportunity for some Naruto Angst! And you KNOW I love angsty things!

And don't worry! My other story will still be updated as frequently as possible!

**Chapter 1—Meaning**

It's cold. It's soft. It's wet. And it was about the most fun Uzumaki Naruto had had all year long.

Late last night, a thick layer of pure white snow had descended on Konohagakure village, coating trees and rooftops with the glistening substance. And as soon as they had seen it, Naruto and Konohamaru had jumped out into the snow to start possibly the largest snowball fight Konoha had ever seen. The two of them pelted not only each other, but also every single passerby who had the misfortune of coming within snowball range. Even poor chubby Akimichi Chouji had fallen victim and was pelted right in the head by a rather amused Naruto, who howled with laughter as the fat ninja flopped face-first into the snow. After a while, both young boys being numb from the cold yet panting from the exercise, they had flopped down onto a very soft snow bank for a break.

"Hey, Naruto-nii-chan?" Konohamaru turned to the blonde shinobi. The younger boy adjusted his goggles, dusting his felt gloves and overly thick winter coat free of clinging snow.

"Yeah?" Naruto panted back. The blonde stared happily up at the still gray sky, completely sprawled in the freezing snow. Rather than his usual outfit, Naruto had found a long orange winter coat buried at the back of his closet, and had a rather thick red scarf wrapped around his neck for warmth.

Konohamaru sat up to regard his 'older brother' Naruto, "What are you doing for Christmas?"

"Huh?" Naruto's bright blue eyes left the sky to stare over at the young would-be-ninja.

"I was just thinking," Konohamaru reached up to brush the snow from his hair, "if you don't have anything to do, you could spend Christmas with my Uncle and me." True, Konohamaru had recently lost his grandfather in the failed coup d'etat by the sand village, but the boy did still have some relatives to spend the holidays with.

This stung Naruto more than he would ever let on. Christmas for the fox-boy had always just been an excuse to cause more mischief for the poor villagers of Konoha. Growing up alone, never having known what a family felt like, and having been ostracized by most of the village, Naruto had only known Christmas as a cold time where everyone else seemed happy for some stupid reason or another. He lapsed into memory, falling eerily silent as Konohamaru stared at him for an answer. Somewhere behind him, Naruto heard a mound of snow fall from a tree branch and crunch into the already covered ground. It brought him somewhat back from his thoughts, offering a strange little smirk up at Konohamaru, "Ahh, to hell with all of that! But listen, Konohamaru, you wanna help me do something REALLY fun?!"

"R-really…fun?" Konohamaru blinked in confusion at the suddenly fox-like grin that Naruto had grown.

Over at the Uchiha estate, a still groggy Sasuke was just waking up, making his way through his chilly house. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, hoping to rid himself of the lingering laziness he felt. He noticed just how very bright everything seemed this morning, and curiously made his way to a window. It almost looked like…snow. Just to be sure that sleep was not still fooling him, he flung the window open. Sasuke immediately withdrew from the windowsill shuddering lightly as his eyes snapped wide open, "Yup…definitely snow." A slight "Brrrr!" escaped him as he rubbed his bare arms, wishing his pajamas offered a little more warmth. For an instant, the Uchiha considered returning to his bed, knowing his sheets were at least still warm. But before he could pass judgment on that thought, a snowball came sailing right through the open window, and belted Sasuke squarely on the nose.

"WAHHH-HAAA-HAAA!" that obnoxious laughter was distinctly that of his teammate, Naruto, "I got you good, Sasuke-teme!"

Naruto's little accomplice cheered him on, "Nice shot, Naruto-nii-chan!"

"Nyaa-haa-haa-haa! It was, wasn't it!" Naruto puffed his chest out, running his finger under his nose a few times. He cackled from his perch, high up in a tree right next to Sasuke's house, so proud of his aim that he failed to notice the look of death that the Uchiha had trained on him.

Sasuke slowly reached up and wiped the bitterly cold snow from his face, his voice threateningly dark, "Naruto…"

"Nya!" Naruto stuck out his tongue and flipped Sasuke off, "What're you gonna do about it, teme?!"

That was clearly the wrong thing to say, because three or four shuriken came soaring out of Sasuke's house, startling the blonde shinobi from his perch and sending him down into a snow bank below, "Naruto!! You are DEAD!"

Though it was early, and freezing, and she had begged her parents repeatedly to let her sleep in today, Haruno Sakura was out wandering the streets to run a few errands. She shuffled through the newly fallen snow, toes freezing through the thick boots she had on, trying to remember if her mother had wanted two loafs of bread and a gallon of milk, or two gallons of milk and a loaf of bread. Meh, either way, it was milk and bread. Sakura sighed to herself, curling up in the fuzzy pink coat she had on; a darker, more burgundy sort of pink as opposed to her decidedly bubble gum colored locks. She even had on a pair of white gloves and a thin white scarf in an attempt to keep warm, not that it was working. Sakura shivered, watching as her breath materialized in the air in front of her. The only good thing about snow, she surmised, was that it meant Christmas would be coming. For that, she could put up with enough snow to burry the whole of the fire country. Christmas was always fun: Buying and receiving gifts, watching all those bad holiday specials on TV, a great big warm holiday meal, and, of course, mistletoe. Sakura flustered at the thought. Maybe, just once, she'd somehow trick the gorgeous Uchiha Sasuke under the mistletoe, and kiss him before he had the chance to run away.

Her Inner self relished the idea, _"HELL YEAH!! That would be the best Christmas present of all! Look out, Sasuke-kun, I'm coming for ya!" _

Almost on cue, the voice of Uchiha Sasuke interrupted her thoughts, "COME BACK HERE!!"

"No way in hell!" Naruto's voice spoke up next, but the first person Sakura caught sight of was Konohamaru, who dove behind the pink-haired kunoichi for cover.

"What the…?" she glanced down at the ninja in training.

Konohamaru offered her a sheepish smile in response, "Ehhh Heh…Ohaiyo, Nee-chan!"

Next, Naruto came whizzing by in a blur of yellow and orange. He skidded to a less than graceful stop as he realized just whom he had passed, then tromped back through the snow to smile at her, "Good morning, Sakura-chan! What're you doing out so early?"

Before she could answer, or even ask why he and Konohamaru were tearing through the streets as if a pack of rabid sound ninjas were on their heels, Uchiha Sasuke made his appearance. Still tugging on his boots, the disheveled Uchiha looked as if he had just rolled out of bed and went running—which, he did! Sasuke hopped through the snow, pulling a boot onto his right foot, a long dark jacket carelessly tossed over one arm, and his Konoha headband tied loosely around his neck. He certainly did look furious, though, "Naruto!! You ass! Hold still so I can kill you!!"

"Drop dead, Sasuke! GAH!" Naruto went scrambling behind Sakura and Konohamaru as Sasuke finally got his second boot tied into place and rushed at the blonde. Naruto and Konohamaru did their best to keep their pink-haired shield between them and the fuming Sasuke.

"Okay, okay! Everyone relax!" Sakura tried to diffuse the situation. Not as if she minded that Sasuke was practically on top of her, though trying to throttle the still snickering Naruto, but she figured that Kakashi-sensei would probably like it better if all three members of his cell were alive and breathing, "Sasuke-kun, take it easy! You really shouldn't be running around half dressed."

"_That's right—he shouldn't be dressed at all!" _Inner Sakura giggled at the thought. Sakura bit her lip to keep herself from actually giggling stupidly at the very nice image now implanted in her head, she just reached over and gave Sasuke's loose headband a few tugs to remind him that he looked like a wreck.

Sasuke backed off, finally pulling his jacket into place as he remembered just how cold it was, "…dobe."

Naruto smiled triumphantly, pleased at having gotten away with pelting Sasuke. Even Konohamaru had adopted that mischievously evil fox-like grin that was so often on Naruto's face. Sakura just shook her head; she didn't know what this was about and she was pretty sure that she didn't want to know. While the raven-haired boy adjusted his headband back into place over his forehead, Sakura turned to grin at Naruto over her shoulder, "So, Naruto. What do you want for Christmas?"

"Huh?" Naruto's eyes squinted shut in thought.

"You're the only one I haven't gotten a gift for yet. Come on, anything." She turned to face her shorter teammate, smiling, but wagging a finger in the air as if she were about to lecture him, "Just don't tell me ramen! It has to be an actual, bona fide Christmas gift."

Naruto laced his fingers behind his blonde head, cheeks flustering as he spoke, "Awww, Sakura-chan! Anything you get will be good!"

"Please…" Sasuke just rolled his dark eyes. When it came to flirtation, Naruto was about as talented as a one-legged racehorse.

The blonde shinobi immediately went on the defensive, "Hey, Sasuke-teme! Don't you roll your stupid eyes at me!" Naruto balled up a fist, trying to get in his partner's face, which proved difficult due to the height difference, "And YOU better get me something damn good, you ass! Cuz I already did all my shopping, and I even wrapped everything myself!"

Sasuke sent him a look of mild curiosity, a single slender eyebrow raising on his face, "You. Got ME a present?"

Sakura was also surprised that the usually irresponsible Naruto had already finished his Christmas shopping, "Me too?"

"Well yeah!" Naruto turned to smile at the kunoichi, "I got everyone a present!"

Konohamaru finally detached himself from Sakura's jacket at the prospect of gifts, "And me, Naruto-nii-chan?! Did you get me-"

"GAHHH!! Milk and bread!" Sakura suddenly shouted, startling both of her other teammates. She tore through the snow, jacket and scarf flailing slightly in the wind as she took off for the grocery store before her mother killed her, "Naruto, Sasuke-kun! I'll catch up to you later! Bye!" None of the boys tried to figure out what the hell 'milk and bread' was supposed to mean, some weird code maybe, but they simply watched her dashing out of sight.

Konohamaru gave Naruto's winter jacket a tug, "Hey, Naruto-nii-chan. I have to get going too. Iruka-sensei will have a fit if I'm late again. Can we play later?"

"Heh! Sure thing, Konohamaru!" Naruto smirked down at the little ninja in training, but Sasuke gave them both a scowl. What the hell were ninjas doing 'playing'!? Idiots…

"Okay! I'll see you later then!" Konohamaru turned and ran back home, waving as he still shouted to the pair of them. "Ohh, and don't forget about Christmas, okay?! Spend it with me and we can have an even bigger snowball fight!" The little kid disappeared from sight, though, Naruto was sure he heard the distinct sound of a snowball catching an unsuspecting villager off guard.

This left Naruto and Sasuke alone on the seemingly deserted street, standing ankle deep in the tussled snow. For a while, they were both silently admiring the frosted buildings and trees, but Naruto felt a thought prick at the back of his head, "Hey…Sasuke?"

"What?" Sasuke's usual tone of apathetic irritation answered.

"What do you do for Christmas?" bright blue eyes trained on the Uchiha, awaiting an answer. Sasuke was basically in the same situation as he was, all alone for Christmas, and Naruto wondered if there was something that lonely kids did on Christmas to celebrate.

First, there was a scowl, as if to say 'You're frigging kidding me!' But Naruto's gaze told him that this was a sincere request. Sasuke gave the question a moment of thought, raking his fingers through his bangs to make sure no hairs were sticking out of place, "Well…not much. I usually just sleep in, then grab a bucket of chicken and relax at home."

Naruto's eyes fell, "Ohhh…that all?"

"Yep." Sasuke buried his hands into his pockets, "I don't even have a picture of my parents to look at, you know. So it's not like I've got any remnants of a family to be with. Christmas is nothing special. New day, same old crap." He turned, ready to head back home and take a nap before he would have to meet up with Kakashi to run missions. Sasuke took one step in the snow, listening as the substance crunched under his boot; but then, a sad little thought curled his lips into something of a smile, "Heh. It's too bad, huh? They should have some kind of Orphan Outreach program for you and me, huh?"

"What…do you mean?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke.

"Too bad we can't go borrow a family for Christmas." Sasuke took off back towards home, finding his feet a little heavier with the weight of that thought.

Naruto watched him for a moment, wondering about the comment. He then gave Sasuke a shout, "Hey! See you later, okay?" He only received a raised hand in reply as the Uchiha stalked off. Naruto stood by himself for a while, ignoring the numbness that was slowly creeping in through his thick clothing. Slowly, he reached up and tugged his crimson scarf over his mouth and nose, then set off through the snowy street to head back home and get some breakfast. All the while wondering…

Over at the training grounds, Hatake Kakashi was engaged in his usual morning ritual of grieving. The white-haired Jounin had taken about an hour to thoroughly clean off the monument to all of Konoha's fallen heroes, hands freezing after having brushed away all of that snow. Unconsciously, he traced a finger over Obito's name. Fond memories flooded his mind, distracting him completely from reality as a smoky breath escaped through his mask.

The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow brought the Jounin back to reality, "Ah, Kakashi. I thought I'd find you here."

The famed copy ninja turned his head towards the newcomer, and was greeted with a faint smile across Iruka's face, "Something you want?"

"Actually, yes." Iruka fidgeted in his downy jacket, "You're meeting up with your cell in a little while, correct?"

"I am."

"Good. Could you do me a favor?" Iruka stretched a moment. All this fidgeting and twitching was the most that the Teacher could think of to keep warm, "I need you to ask Naruto to meet up with me after your mission. I was…going to ask him if he would like to spend Christmas with me."

Kakashi smiled under his dark mask, "Heh, you certainly have grown fond of that little brat, haven't you?" Iruka twisted his head to hide an embarrassed blush that had consumed his cheeks, and the Jounin just chuckled, "Sure thing. Maybe I'll see what kind of mood Sasuke is in."

"Thanks" the two would-be foster fathers exchanged a nod before Iruka set off towards the academy. It wasn't that bad of an idea, really. Two boys with no fathers, and two men with nothing to do. However, Kakashi mused, if Sasuke was in one of his usual bitchy moods, this would become a more dangerous mission than sneaking into Sunagakure and pelting Gaara with a snowball. With that amusing thought, Kakashi patted the gravestone tenderly, and set off to go find his probably freezing and cranky cell.

Just as the Jounin had guessed, Sakura and Sasuke were standing at their usual meeting spot on the bridge, both of them curled up into their jackets. Sasuke was trying his best to seem as if the chilling wind wasn't bothering him, just grimacing as Sakura went on one of her usual morning tirades.

"He's ALWAYS late!" the kunoichi shuddered, blowing on her hands for warmth, "You'd think, just once, he's show up on time! I mean, it's freezing out here for godsake! He's got no compassion in his bones, I swear it!"

The Uchiha heir suppressed a yawn, _"How in all hell is she this energetic?! I know for a fact she was up early, and she's STILL talking!! Damnit…damn Naruto and his damn snowballs…" _ His thoughts trailed off as it occurred to him that they were short one lunatic, "Hey…"

"Yeah?" Sakura turned her emerald orbs over at him.

"Naruto isn't here yet." Sasuke glanced down the street, seeing if the blonde was running over here as he spoke. But all that he saw was white mounds of snow and a chalky gray sky.

Sakura also looked around, having been oblivious to the missing ninja this whole time, "That's weird. He's usually here by now."

A loud popping sound just off to the side signaled the arrival of their tardy sensei, "Yo. Sorry I'm late today, but I had to help a little boy on crutches get his father away from a very mean old man and-" Kakashi was stopped, not by the usual screaming of Sakura and Naruto, but by an icy snowball dead in his face.

"Save it!" Sakura snorted, dusting her gloves free of snow, "You go stand outside in the freezing weather for three hours and we'll see how you like it!"

Kakashi's uncovered eye surveyed the gathered Gennin, "Mmm? Where is Naruto?"

"Probably screwing around somewhere." Sasuke's blank tone answered as he leaned back against the snow-covered railing of the bridge.

Kakashi cleaned off his face, wondering what could distract the easily excited Naruto away from running missions. The white-haired Jounin just shrugged it off, attributing it to the season, and turned to address the other two, "Alright. This mission should be simple for just the two of you." Both pairs of youthful eyes set on their sensei as he began explaining the nature of their latest mission, "Simple find and retrieve mission. It seems that Tiger slipped away from the Fire Country Master's wife again late last night, and she's just worried sick about him."

"Oh geez…" Sasuke growled under his breath, glaring down at the half frozen river below him.

Sakura shared in his enthusiasm, "That damned cat again?!"

"Now, now. A mission is a mission." Kakashi turned and walked off, expecting his young charges to follow him obediently, "So let's hurry up and get this one done in time for dinner, shall we?"

Sakura went instantly skittering after him, but Sasuke took his time, still muttering about how much he hated these kinds of missions, "Stupid cat…wish she would just get a damned DOG already…"

One would think that finding a ginger cat in a snowy white forest would be a simple task, but it took the three of them the better part of the day to find and finally pin down Tiger. When they returned the reluctant cat to his owner, Sakura was flushed and out of breath, and Sasuke had a massive scratch across his nose. Kakashi was virtually untouched, but of course, he had done nothing more than read through the pages of _Come Come Paradise_ while Sasuke and Sakura kept diving in snow banks to grab the creature. But the mission was complete, and it was already pitch black outside, so the three of them decided to just head back home. Naruto never did show up for the mission, which aggravated Sasuke to no end, because without the dobe, HE had been the one stuck grabbing that evil little cat and suffering the wrath of those claws. Sasuke scratched the tiny wound on his nose as he groused about it, Sakura trying her best not to giggle at him as they trudged through the streets. It had begun snowing again, gentle flakes wafting through the air and landing silently on the already covered ground.

After a while, Sakura broke the silence between the three of them, "Say, Sasuke-kun?"

"What?" he didn't so much as glance at her as he answered.

"I was just thinking…well, my mom makes this great big Christmas dinner, and we never do finish it by ourselves, so…" Sakura smiled brightly, her cheeks erupting in a blush.

Sasuke just shook his head, already knowing what she was getting at, "No."

"No?" Sakura sadly mimicked, pouting over at him.

"No."

Kakashi smirked to himself, deciding that, while Sakura's request fell flat, he might as well give it a try, "Come now Sasuke, you don't want to be alone on Christmas, do you?

If you'd like, I could treat you to a warm meal."

"No." Sasuke the broken record stuffed his hands into his pockets, but just shrugged the questions away, "Christmas is nothing special. Alone or not, I don't really care."

His sensei laughed lightly, relieved that, while he was turning them down, at least Sasuke didn't seem to be in one of his darker moods for once. But Naruto was another matter. He had promised Iruka to tell the blonde shinobi to meet up after the mission, and so he intended to keep it. Kakashi lifted a hand at the two Gennin behind him, "Well then you two, I'll see you tomorrow." He disappeared in a poof of smoke, just as he had appeared. But rather than going home, Kakashi was headed straight for Naruto's humble apartment to see what the psycho fox had in mind for his own Christmas celebrations.

Sakura and Sasuke parted ways, after a lengthy begging session by the kunoichi. Sasuke had only gotten out of it by agreeing to meet up on Christmas day to exchange presents with her and Naruto…not that he HAD any presents to give them yet, but…well, he still had a few days left to shop. He allowed the thought to slip from his mind as he shuffled back into his still cold house, letting his coat fall carelessly onto the floor by his boots. Sasuke crawled right into bed, fully clothed, not bothering to change or bathe or anything. He was just tired.

But he was woken up only a few hours later by a loud 'THWACK' on his front door. Muttering death-threats, Sasuke stumbled over to his door and swung it open to find a mushed snowball smeared across the front of the door. He grunted, speaking without bothering to open his eyes fully, "Naruto, I'm not in the mood for your stupid-ass snowball fights. Go the hell away." He slammed the door shut. About a second later, Sasuke flung the door back open as it occurred to him that there was no one outside, "Naruto?" He forced his eyes open enough to see straight, glancing through the falling snow to see who had thrown the snowball.

At once, an object caught his attention just at his feet. On his doorstep sat a brightly colored, yet poorly wrapped gift. There was more tape on it than wrapping paper, and it was clear to the Uchiha who would be stupid enough to wrap a gift like that. Gingerly, he stooped and lifted the package from the snowy steps. There was an official tag on it that read 'From: Sakura and Naruto' but a stray piece of paper hung from the side, seemingly taped on at the last moment. Sasuke grabbed the stray paper and flipped it open, eyeing the words on the page.

_Sasuke-teme,_

Just after the first two words, Sasuke was ready to kill someone, "Merry Christmas to you too, asshole." He grimaced, finding it hard to make out most of Naruto's chicken-scratch handwriting, but continued on with the letter.

_Sasuke-teme, _

_I'm giving this to you early 'cuz I won't be around for Christmas. It's half from Sakura-chan, so remember to THANK HER, you ungrateful bastard! _

_I'm going to have at least one normal damn Christmas before I drop dead. If I don't come back, it's been fun! Take care of Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei, and Iruka-sensei, OH! And Hinata! She's real shy and stuff, so keep an eye on her! And yourself too, idiot. _

_Merry _(the next word was so badly scribbled that it was unintelligible, But Sasuke was sure it was 'Christmas')

_Sincerely, Uzumaki Naruto. _

_P.S.-If you take my crap while I'm gone, I'm gonna come back and kick your ass! _

Sasuke tore his eyes off of the note, gaping. This was a joke, right? Any minute now he'd get a snowball to the face.

When nothing hit him, Sasuke quickly pulled his dark jacket off of the floor and tossed it on, crumpling the note into his pocket as he took off to find Sakura.

So much for sleeping in late and lazing around the house this Christmas…

Author's ending Rant- Whoo! That felt therapeutic! Know how it feels when you have an idea cramped in your head? Know how good it feels to get that idea out? n.n

That's just the beginning! Expect long chapters and a fast plot line, because now the challenge begins: Can the Fox finish this before X-mas?! Probably not, but I'll try! It'll be close, I promise!

Here's your daily Japanese Lesson! "Nii-chan" is older brother; "Teme" is bastard so "Sasuke-teme" is Sasuke-bastard (Naruto says this often!), "Ohaiyo" is good morning, "Nee-chan" is older sister, and "dobe" is The worst (Sasuke's favorite insult for Naruto.) And Sunagakure is the "Hidden Sand" or Gaara's village.

PLEASE review! I love reviews! Really! They keep me going! Flames don't bother me, I laugh at them!

Until next update then, enjoy!


	2. Denial

Author's opening Rant- YAY! I got reviews! n.n I would like to thank my reviewers, as always, because you guys are the ones that keep me writing! And I'd like to personally thank Dragonman180 for reviewing both of my horrid little fanfictions. Thank you so much!

So without further ado, here's chapter 2! ::Snicker:: Yeah…that was corney!

**Chapter 2- Denial**

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Uzumaki Naruto marveled at the sound of footsteps in heavy snow.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Where was he headed exactly? Even he was unsure. But he knew of a few other towns in the Fire Country just outside of Konohagakure, they had to be around here somewhere. Naruto had been walking all night long, his body pricked by bitter coldness, having to dust himself free of fallen snow every so often. The snow was beautiful, he thought, and he made up his mind to find a family that would like to watch the snowfall with him. A family that was kind, and loving, and wouldn't mind eating ramen three or four times a week. These thoughts kept the numbness at bay. Naruto trudged further and further from his old home in Konoha, a permanent smile affixed to his face as he envisioned his faceless new family. This year, he'd have a Christmas just like everyone else. Naruto's happiness was bubbling up inside of him, and kept filtering out in the form of Christmas songs, sung slightly off-key by the little fox-boy. But of course, Naruto didn't really know all of the words to most of these songs, so they came out a little distorted:

"We Wish you a Merry Christmas, We Wish you a Merry Christmas, we Wish you a Merry Christmas, and… a… whole bowl of Ramen!"

Yeah, that sounded about right, in his mind at least. Naruto adjusted the straps of his very heavy backpack, feeling incredibly energetic and optimistic despite his lack of rest, singing all the way.

"Jingle Bells, Sasuke smells, Kakashi-sensei laid an egg!"

Back at Konoha, the current Hokage, the Sennin Tsunade, had called an emergency meeting of the assembled Gennin and their Jounin leaders. Early this morning, Tsunade had found a letter taped to her door, and she had a feeling that one of them would be able to figure out exactly what to do. The rookie ninjas all clustered into the office of the Hokage, and curiously, each of them had a poorly wrapped Christmas present in their hands. "Everybody listen," the Hokage called for silence, her voice far more insecure than usual, "This isn't a field trip. I want one of you to explain this mess to me!" She pulled the slightly crumpled letter from her desk and held it up for everyone to read. The room crowded around the scrap of parchment.

_Sasuke-teme, _

_I'm giving this to you early 'cuz I won't be around for Christmas. It's half from Sakura-chan, so remember to THANK HER, you ungrateful bastard! _

_I'm going to have at least one normal damn Christmas before I drop dead. If I don't come back, it's been fun! Take care of Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei, and Iruka-sensei, OH! And Hinata! She's real shy and stuff, so keep an eye on her! And yourself too, idiot. _

_Merry _(the chicken-scratch on the next word was horrible, but everyone could guess as to what it meant.)

_Sincerely, Uzumaki Naruto. _

_P.S.-If you take my crap while I'm gone, I'm gonna come back and kick your ass!_

And then, printed very neatly at the bottom, _we're bringing him back –U. S. _

A murmur of concern went around the room quietly. "U.S.?" Inuzuka Kiba stared harder at the writing on the bottom, wondering why it was so different from the rest of the handwriting.

Aburame Shino sighed at Kiba's reaction, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Kakashi shook his head sadly. So that's why his entire cell had gone missing late last night. In his hands, the Jounin held the present from Naruto: The complete limited edition set of the _Come Come Paradise_ series, autographed by the author himself. He cast an eye around the whole of the room; wincing as he noticed how much care Naruto had taken in choosing everyone else's presents. Shikamaru held one of those 'U' shaped pillows for better cloud watching, Ino had a very beautiful flower pin, Shino had been given a few extra pairs of sunglasses, Kiba received a necklace that looked mysteriously like a dog collar and whole bag of dog treats for Akamaru, Rock Lee was limply hanging onto a pair of biker gloves that he had been begging for, Tenten held out a shirt that sported a curious kunai motif, Asuma had an entire carton of cigarettes, and Kurenai tucked a tiny box of chocolates under her arm. Chouji didn't carry a present with him, but judging from the crumbs on his mouth, he had gotten one. Neji had received a book of quotations, probably for a little moral support, Kakashi thought, and a scrap of paper that read _I, Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure Village, solemnly swear that I will alter the Hyuuga clan upon my becoming Hokage. –Uzumaki Naruto._ Kakashi just chuckled; it certainly seemed like the only thing stoic Neji would ever want. Hinata's present was a mystery, because she hadn't yet peeled the paper away to see what it was. She just clutched the little package, looking pale and worried sick over the whole thing.

When it became obvious that no one knew exactly where Naruto had taken off to, Tsunade let her eyes sadly fall onto her own gift. It was a gold necklace, similar but not exactly like her old one, and a note tucked into the side, _To replace the one you gave me!_ A sigh escaped the Hokage's ruby lips as she stood to her feet, "Okay. So it's safe to assume that Sasuke and Sakura went after him, but all things considered, that simply will not be enough. Kakashi, I want you to find Iruka and Jiraiya. Then reconvene here. We'll set up a search party. The rest of you, try to think of a place that the little brat might have run off to."

Kakashi took off in a puff of smoke as the rest of the room exchanged an anxious look, Hinata whimpering to herself as she smushed her little present in her arms.

Sasuke and Sakura had been hot on Naruto's heels since daybreak, following his easily traceable footprints in the snow. The pair of them hopped from snowy tree branch to snowy tree branch, nearly toppling with every treacherous leap. But it was the fastest way to catch the dobe, and they didn't feel like wasting any time. Sasuke hopped from one perch to another, again slipping on the slick snow and nearly tumbling straight out of the tree, "Damn it!" He caught himself at the last moment, gritting his teeth with frustration.

Sakura paused a few trees ahead of him, twisting her head to see if he had fallen, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, damn it, I'm fine!" the Uchiha righted himself on the branch, taking a moment to brush the collected snow from his raven locks. Whether on the ground or in the trees, it wouldn't be too easy for them to follow at full speed. "Damn stupid Naruto…" Sasuke huffed. 'Damn' had become his favorite word today, either because of the inconvenience this was causing him, or out of sincere concern for his teammate. There were, after all, many men after the blonde shinobi, if he recalled correctly.

"Do you think he's gone much further, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura gazed ahead of them, squinting to see through the snow, "We should have caught up with him by now, even if he's running."

Sasuke hurried to catch up with her, pausing on the branch just over Sakura's head, "Yeah, I know." Jet black eyes scanned the wintry forest for signs of the brightly dressed ninja. His footprints were still directly below them, pointing in his direction. So where was he?

"I'm really starting to get worried now. What if…what if someone finds him before us? What if they've already found him? " There was a strong sense of urgency in her voice. Sakura wrung her hands a few times, emerald eyes making a quick sweep of the forest before glancing back up at Sasuke.

"There's a village up ahead. We can ask around there." He masked whatever concern he was feeling with his usual tone of stern apathy. There would be no further discussion on the matter, and he took off again, Sakura close behind but a bit more cautious about her movements. If someone did find that little idiot before them…well, Sasuke was ready for a fight!

Bright azure eyes widened as Naruto finally came upon a village. It was one of those tiny sorts of villages, where the villagers seemed to know everyone's names, and the buildings were all uniformly fashioned. Naruto couldn't help his smile. There were families all over, buying last-minute gifts, grocery shopping, and generally chatting out in the chilly weather. His gaze darted from family to family; hoping one of them might not mind an extra person sitting down to Christmas dinner. With so many choices, Naruto was having a hard time figuring out what he should do next. Eventually, he noticed a very warm and gentle looking woman enter a nearby shop, and his feet followed without permission. When the shinobi swung the door open, a pair of large, brass bells clunked together just over his head. This entertained Naruto to no end. He stared at the bells a moment, then swung the door shut. Clunk. Then open. Clung. Then shut, and so forth for a good ten minutes before the clerk shouted over at him.

"Hey, kid! Knock that off!" a skinny old man screamed from behind a counter, slapping a hand down to emphasize his point, "Either buy something or get lost!"

"Ohh…sorry!" Naruto smiled, giving the door one last quick shove—and a final annoying clunk from the bells—as he strolled over towards the clerk. The blonde Shinobi dusted his snowy jacket off for a moment, staring over the countertop at the clerk with a permanently affixed grin.

The old man eyed him incredulously, eyebrows softly rising as he noticed the ninja headband on the younger boy's head, "You looking for something in particular?"

"Yeah!" Naruto beamed, but offered no further information.

"Well then, what is it?" the clerk bit back, starting to feel a little more than nervous.

"A family!" the shinobi's request was innocent enough; however, the shop owner had long since learned that when a ninja was searching for a family, it was usually to assassinate them.

The old man scowled at the grinning face of the younger boy, "Look here, kid. This is a nice, peaceful place to live. I certainly ain't gonna give you no family's names. Whatever reason you got for coming here, we don't fancy your kind, so get lost. You'll be taking no innocent blood today."

Naruto's smile melted to a look of supreme confusion, "…my kind?"

A withered old finger poked the metal plate of his Konoha headband, "Yeah, your kind. Now get lost."

Naruto stared at the clerk for a good long while. What was wrong with ninjas? He gradually pulled himself away from the counter, noticing that most, if not all, of the customers in the little shop were staring daggers at him. "Ohh…" Bright blue eyes sank to the floor as Naruto shuffled back outside. He tugged at his scarf for a moment, swallowing repeatedly against the little lump of sadness that had appeared in the back of his throat. The blonde glanced across the snowy covered street, catching sight of a father and child staring in the window of a toyshop.

"That one Dad! I want that one!" The little boy pointed and jumped around excitedly.

His father smiled warmly down at him, "Well, we'll see."

The horrible feeling that Naruto had in his stomach threatened to spill out in the form of silent tears. Deciding that there was no one here for him, Naruto turned and left, his feet dragging through the heavy snow as he left the tiny village behind him. It wasn't…pleasant…having nowhere to belong. And he was afraid that he was becoming too used to the feeling of complete isolation. Naruto's previously chipper attitude dampened into the usual onset of depression that hit him along with these thoughts. He trudged along, no longer amused by the sound of his heavy footsteps, off to hopefully find another village.

Unbeknownst to the fox-boy, two dark and shadowy figures watched his every step from a good distance, both of their raven cloaks dotted by bright white snowflakes. "Well…now?" one spoke up from under his wide straw hat.

"No." the second commanded, eyes trailing from Naruto's back, "He is being followed."

Both mysterious figures disappeared into the lurking shadows. And just in time, too; right where they had been standing, Uchiha Sasuke suddenly took a dive into a snow back, cursing all the way down. "CRAPPPPP!!"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura was shortly on the ground, hovering over the now completely covered Sasuke, "Are you alright?! I told you to slow down!"

"Just shut up…" Sasuke shivered, slowly dragging himself out of the snow. Damn, if that wasn't cold! He had thought, for an instant, that he had seen Naruto, and so had sped up to catch him. But the moment he increased his speed, his boot slid on a patch of snow collected on a tree branch, and Sasuke went sailing down quite a distance to the ground. Lucky for him all this snow had cushioned his fall.

Sakura grabbed one of his sleeves, helping pull him back onto his feet, "Maybe we should rest for a second."

"I don't need to."

"But-"

Their conversation ended when the old man came stomping from his little store to see what all the racket was about, "Now there's MORE of you?!" Sakura and Sasuke's eyes fell on the foolish old thing, wondering what he was getting so excited about. The clerk's vision fixed right on Sasuke's headband, "What's with this all of a sudden? I that other Leaf Ninja to get out, and I mean it! We don't want no trouble in our village!"

In a flash, Sasuke had the old man pinned to the tree he had just fallen from, gripping the clerk by his shirt collar and holding the older man aloft, "What did you just say?"

"Wha…wha…" The clerk panicked; astonished that a little boy could so easily lift him off of the ground.

"You said you saw another Leaf Ninja. What did he look like? Where did he go?" Sasuke only tightened his grip threateningly.

The clerk was silent, hypnotized by the look of death he was staring down. Sakura added to the questioning, but for whatever reason, didn't suggest that Sasuke let the poor frightened old man down, "Please, tell us! Was he a blonde kid about our age? We need to find him right away!"

"Y-yes…" the old man managed to choke out, "A bouncy little blonde brat. He went off in this direction here, headed north."

"When." Sasuke demanded.

"Not more than five minutes ago. I-if you hurry, I'm positive you'll catch him!" the old clerk suddenly found himself dropped in the snow as Sakura and Sasuke took off in their pursuit of Naruto.

Just seconds later, they caught sight of the orange winter jacket and screaming blonde locks of their missing teammate. Sasuke and Sakura rushed over at him—on the ground this time—the Uchiha giving a shout, "Naruto!"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked a few times, surprised to hear Sasuke's voice. As he turned, the little fox-boy smiled, waving a greeting furiously over at them, "Hey you guys!"

His two friends skidded to a stop in front of him, huffing from having chased him all night. Sasuke suddenly developed the eye-twitch from hell, "…Hey you guys'…?!?! Naruto, what the hell is your problem?!"

"We've been looking for you! Why did you run away?" Sakura restrained herself, figuring she'd hit Naruto after she'd figure out what he was thinking.

"What the hell is you problem?!"

"Where are you going?"

"WHAT the HELL is your PROBLEM?!"

Naruto's bright blue eyes stared at them in shock—mostly due to all the screaming, "I wasn't running away, Sakura-chan."

"When you take your stuff and leave, it's called running away!" Sakura belted him once in the shoulder. Yeah, she seemed angry, but she was secretly relieved that they had found him before anything terrible had happened. Naruto flinched from the decidedly weak strike, pouting fiercely at the kunoichi. Sakura laced her gloved fingers through her hair a moment, letting a smoky breath escape her lips before she spoke again, "What are you doing then? What were you thinking, running off like this?"

Naruto stuffed his hands into his pockets, fixing his posture as he offered them both a tremendous grin, "I'm going to borrow a family for Christmas."

Upon hearing his own words turned back at him, Sasuke's jaw dropped. He stared, bewildered at the idiot for a few tense moments, but quickly tapped back into his anger, "I was **_kidding_**, you moron!!!"

"Hey! Don't call me a moron, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto's composure quickly unraveled and a fist shook at Sasuke.

The two of them began shouting curses at each other, a hand full of snow being tossed here and there. When Sakura could no longer stand the cold, or their incredibly filthy language, she attempted to pry them away from one another, "Alright, alright you guys! This isn't the time for this! Let's just get back to Konoha before too many people miss us!"

Sasuke growled, shaking his hair out as he turned towards home, "Yeah, yeah…let's get going, dobe."

Naruto smacked the snow from his jacket, grimacing at the both of them, "I'm not going home!"

"…What?" Sakura's bright green eyes widened at him, Sasuke coming to a stop just behind her and glancing back over his shoulder at the blonde.

"I'm not going home!" Naruto only repeated louder, "I told you, I'm going to go find a family for Christmas!"

"And I told you I was kidding!" Sasuke whirled back around, ready for round two of the shouting competition.

"Well I'm not!" his voice echoed in the bitter air. Naruto stood in front of them both, a look of stubborn determination on his face as he met their quizzical faces, "This is just something I have to do. You guys wouldn't understand it."

"Oh please." the Uchiha folded his arms across his chest, "Don't act like you're the only one with—"

"It's different, Sasuke! You may be alone, but at least you've got memories! I would give anything in the world to have the same kind of pain as you do!" after his outburst, the three of them fell deadly silent again, the snow still filtering down from the dusty sky. Sasuke stared at Naruto. That had to be the single most disturbing thing he had ever heard, that someone would willingly put himself in that situation. After a few quiet moments, Naruto spoke again, but quietly and withdrawn this time "…its…I don't know anything about my family. I don't even know if I had a family, you know. Sometimes, I just wonder, if 'Uzumaki' was just a name that the Third Hokage made up for me." He paused again, finding his hopeful smile again, "So I'm gonna find out what it's like to have a family."

"But…Naruto." Sakura's eyes shone with sympathy, "What about your dream? Don't you want to become Hokage anymore?"

He just shrugged at her, "Sure I do. I'll come back…eventually."

Sasuke very abruptly turned and began storming off, "Waste of my time!"

"Sasuke-kun! Hold on a second!" Sakura stared at his quickly retreating back. She didn't want to just take off and leave Naruto behind. Maybe, a little more convincing would get the blonde shinobi to change his mind and go home with them.

"Forget it!" Sasuke shouted back at her, "He wants to act like an asshole, Sakura, let him! Come on!" This earned him a hard glare from Naruto, and he knew it, but he wasn't about to try reasoning with the little moron.

Sakura's eyes trailed back to Naruto, unsure as to what she should do next. Naruto just smiled at her through the falling snow, bright eyes lighting up, "Merry Christmas, Sakura-chan."

She was unable to answer him, only dashed off to chase after Sasuke, "Wait up! Sasuke-kun, wait!"

Naruto sighed to himself. He was kind of glad he had seen them. After all, he didn't know when he'd be able to see them again. Even if Sasuke was an ass, he was a good friend. Naruto inhaled the arctic air slowly, adjusting his crimson scarf as he turned in search of the next village over.

Sakura scampered up behind Sasuke, casting an occasional look backwards. When she could no longer see Naruto, questions came spilling from her mouth, "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing?! We can't just leave him! What if a rival village finds him and kills him?! What if he starves to death, or freezes to death?!"

Sasuke suddenly scuffed his boot in the snow, kicking a pile of it up into the air, "Damn it!"

"Sasuke-kun…?"

"Spoiled ass brat." The raven-haired shinobi glared off into the distance. Figures, stupid Naruto was too blind to see just how good he had it back home. There was more than one way to be a family, Sasuke mused, but god help the man that tried explaining that to the clueless blonde. Sakura watched Sasuke's face as he slowly slipped into a daze. She wondered what he could be thinking, but more so than that, worried what would become of their less-than-intelligent teammate.

There was a sudden crunch of snow just behind Sasuke—too heavy to be Sakura's footsteps, and too sudden for anyone to have approached them. Had someone dropped out of a tree? Other Shinobi? Sasuke's mind would have played with the thought further, but all at once, he felt his heart stop.

"…well…if it isn't my foolish little brother…"

Author's ending Rant- ::Smirks evilly:: Cliff-hangers are fun!

I hope you enjoyed this installment! Remember to read and review, please. I feel that this chapter was a little rushed, I just hope it didn't come off that way. Because, really, this one was kinda important for the dobe.

Like I said, it's gonna go fast so It can be finished up for X-mas!

And if you can't guess who the 'two shadowy figures' were by now...well, just wait for the next update!


	3. Heart

Author's Opening Rant- Yes, yes. I am an evil little thing, aren't I? As the ancient Japanese saying goes: "Never trust a smiling fox"!

To begin with, as always, a big Thank You to all my readers and reviewers! Thank you guys so much for supporting the lunacy of my fanfictions!

So I'd expect you all are waiting to see how things are going to turn out, ne? Let's jump in then, shall we?

**Chapter 3- Heart**

"…well…if it isn't my foolish little brother…" the voice hissed like a venomous snake about to strike.

Sasuke was utterly petrified with a mix of emotion. Anger clashed with shock, and even fear as he stood there, not daring to turn around right away. His lips parted, moving soundlessly a few times before he could think enough to speak, "I…Itachi…"

Sakura felt her stomach drop. She hadn't immediately recognized the man who had jumped in between her and her teammate, but hearing the word 'Itachi' sent shivers straight down her spine. She knew well enough the bloody history of Sasuke's brother, and now, there he was right in front of her. Sakura couldn't think clearly enough to even blink.

Itachi leaned back, a hand lightly lifting his wide hat to reveal his cruel crimson eyes, "Why so shocked, Sasuke? Families ought to be together for the holidays, shouldn't they?" Sasuke forced a strangled noise out between clenched teeth, both hands balling into uncertain fists at his side. His brother remained deadly calm, eyeing the reaction he had caused in his younger sibling, "Look at you. Falling from trees like some novice." There was a pause, and Itachi's lips curled into a wicked smirk, "What would father think of you now?"

That was the breaking point. Sasuke's fists clenched so tightly that he would have drawn blood if he were not wearing gloves. "Don't…you dare…" he felt himself shaking with anger, "…mention our father…" Without thinking, Sasuke whirled around, loathing shining behind his perfectly onyx eyes, "…YOU MURDERER!!!!!!!"

It wasn't even funny how quickly the fight was over. Itachi easily dodged the enraged punch, only loosing his wide-brimmed straw hat with the motion, and quickly bringing his fist around into the side of the younger Uchiha's head. Sasuke went flying backwards, slamming so hard into a tree that, not only did the snow tumble down from its branches, but a section of the bark came peeling up from the force of the impact.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura went immediately on the defensive. Despite the glaring danger, she pulled a kunai knife from her pouch and readied herself to attack.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you…" without detection, the second shadowy figure had snuck up behind the pink-haired kunoichi, brandishing his large, scaly sword at her. Kisame chuckled forebodingly, lifting his own hat from his head, "Hey, Itachi! Let's not play around here too long! I say we just kill them off real quick and get moving."

Itachi sent his partner a dark look, then very slowly crunched through the snow and lifted his brother by his neck. Choking, Sasuke was slammed back against the tree again, held firmly in place by his older brother. Itachi glared up at his squirming captive, "Foolish little brother. You should have stayed away. We are only here to capture the Uzumaki brat…but I find that when you are around, you tend to complicate things for me."

"Naruto…?" Sakura eyed the older Uchiha. He had confirmed her deeper fears over her blonde teammate, but it seemed that there wasn't much neither she nor Sasuke could do to save Naruto from this man.

Sasuke gasped for air, struggling against his brother's grip, both eyes seizing him with a deathly glare, "I-Itachi…don't you dare…"

"Ohhh?" Itachi's eyes went from his brother to Sakura. The girl flinched, nearly breaking into tears just from the gaze, and Sasuke squirmed like crazy.

"Don't…!!"

"Do you still have a soft spot in your heart, brother?" Itachi hissed, "Well…allow me to cure you of that." He then turned back to Kisame, nodding softly as he spoke, his voice monotone and sinister, "Kill her."

"Don't you dare!!!" Sasuke began to protest, but stopped as Itachi's grip tightened, effectively cutting off his air.

Itachi regarded his brother, both Sharingan coldly staring up at the weaker sibling, "You are going to watch, Sasuke. Watch as she dies for your foolishness…and then know that there is nothing you can do to save Uzumaki…you are too weak to stop me."

Kisame lifted his sword high in the air over the terrified Sakura, "Alright! Let's stain this boring snow bright red!" The fish-faced shinobi cackled at the thought, and swiftly brought his weapon downwards. Sakura could do nothing more than stare in horror as the weapon descended at her, her hands trembling so badly that she dropped her kunai limply in the snow. But to her great relief, the sword halted about an inch from her face. Kisame's entire body now refused to move of it's own will, frozen by some unseen force, "Wha…what the hell?! I can't…"

"Tr-Troublesome…" reinforcements had arrived. Just behind the large former Mist shinobi, Nara Shikamaru stood, focusing every ounce of his chakra into his shadow just to hold Kisame in place. He leaned his head over a little, and Kisame mirrored the movement, "Sakura!! Don't just stand there, troublesome girl! Move it!" Sighing with relief at the sight of her fellow Konoha ninja, Sakura regained herself, gritting her teeth to alleviate her nervous shaking. She quickly scooped up her kunai and ran…right at Itachi. "NO, stupid woman!" Shikamaru howled at her recklessness, "I meant run AWAY!"

Itachi glanced at her with mild interest, "…pitiful." He reached into his brother's side pouch, borrowing one of Sasuke's kunai before releasing the younger Uchiha into a snow bank. In a flash of black, Itachi rushed at Sakura. It was so fast; the pink-haired kunoichi scarcely had time to react other than squeezing her eyes shut in fear.

A loud clang of metal against metal echoed in the snowy forest. Sakura glanced back up, finding that, much to her surprise, she was still in one piece and now staring at her Sensei's back. Kakashi parried Itachi's kunai with one of his own, the Jounin struggling to keep the elder Uchiha at bay, "Ahh…Sakura, Sasuke. A good thing…we caught up with you in time…"

Itachi scowled at the single Sharingan staring heatedly back at him, raising his voice to his still captive partner, "Kisame. The boy."

"R-right!" Kisame tried once more to break free by brute force, but found that the younger Chuunin's Shadow Imitate Technique was formidable. He quickly gathered a portion of his chakra and forced it back against the shadow binding him. Shikamaru's technique almost instantly gave way to the stronger shinobi's power. Kisame turned, again smirking viciously as he eyed the shadow-wielding ninja, "Heh Heh…Weakling! Here's a parting gift for you!" That massive sword swiped across Shikamaru's arm, scraping the skin into a bloody mess. The Chuunin fell, grasping his injured arm as the fish-faced ninja took off to find Naruto.

Kakashi glanced to the side, knowing full well where Kisame was headed. But the instant that the Jounin's gaze was preoccupied, Itachi made his move to escape. He threw all of his weight back, allowing Kakashi to fall forward, then brought his knee forcefully into Kakashi's gut. Itachi sent one last glare of hatred at his brother, still panting for breath in the snow, then bounded up into the tree's branches and out of sight. Kakashi reeled from the blow, staggering slightly, and wondering if a few of his ribs weren't cracked. He eventually regained his breath, tugging his headband back into place over his left eye as he spoke, "Well then…this is certainly a mess. Is everybody okay?"

Sakura nodded her head, but Shikamaru glared daggers up at the Jounin. Sasuke hadn't paid much attention to Kakashi's words; his attention was directly focused on the path of Itachi's retreat. Forgetting the whole reason why he had even come out this far, Sasuke leapt to his feet and began to give chase, "ITACHI! Come back here!"

He was stopped suddenly when his sensei grabbed him by the back of his jacket, "Sasuke, this isn't the time. We have to go find Naruto. Now." Sasuke flailed to free himself, but Kakashi wasn't about to let him go. Sakura, meantime, had bent down next to Shikamaru to see just how badly his arm was torn up.

Naruto had walked a good distance since leaving Sasuke and Sakura, hands buried in his pockets as he thought over what they had said. After replaying the discussion in his head a few more times, he just huffed and straightened, _"nahhh…they don't know what they're talking about. This is just something…I gotta do, that's all. Being Hokage will come after that." _ He pondered a little while longer, eyes on the undisturbed snow in front of him. All of a sudden, he could hear Sasuke and Sakura screaming—faintly because of the distance, but clearly their voices. The blonde was immediately alerted. He turned, backtracking over his footsteps and hurrying back towards them.

He was stopped dead when Kisame appeared out of nowhere, smirking in the younger shinobi's face, "Gotcha."

"What the-!?" Naruto jumped back in shock, tripping over his own boots and sprawling to the floor.

"Come here, you little brat!" Kisame reached a hand down to grab at Naruto. The fox-boy scampered backwards across the snowy ground, unfortunately finding himself at the edge of a slope. As he moved back to keep out of the fish-faced shinobi's grasp, Naruto slipped and slid down the length of the hill. He tumbled head over heels down the embankment, kicking up so much snow that Kisame almost instantly lost sight of him. Kisame hesitated, watching the pure white snow envelope the Gennin. That certainly looked like a painful way down the hill, and besides, no one had followed him, so Kisame decided to find an alternate route down the slope, one that wouldn't end in a concussion. His eyes scanned the area, quickly finding a path that seemed to lead in the blonde's general direction. Kisame took off through the snow, his sword held ready just incase anyone else felt brave today.

After what felt like forever, Naruto finally reached the bottom of the snow-covered hill and stopped rolling when he slammed into a thin sapling. The bushy branches shook from the impact, and mounds of snow cascaded down on the stunned shinobi. He shook out his bright blonde hair, pausing to see if his attacker had followed him. The slope and the surrounding forest were dead silent. Naruto gradually stood back up, patting his clothing as he muttered to himself, "Geez. What the hell was that all about?" His face scrunched, knowing he'd seen that man before but…well, at the moment, he didn't care enough to remember. He pushed the whole thing out of his mind and started forward again, choosing a random direction based on the brightness of the snow.

It wasn't very long at all before the little ninja wandered across another town. This one was at least twice as big as the last one, with towering buildings shadowing homely little cottages. This village, Naruto thought to himself as he broke out into a smile, looked almost like Konoha, though it held it's obvious differences. But more importantly, the streets were flooded with people. This time, he'd get it right! Naruto began rushing forward, but stopped himself long enough to pull off his headband and tuck it into his jacket pocket. Naruto hurried over to the first person he came across, a thin looking woman holding a basket of fruit, "Hey, hey! Lady! Excuse me!"

"Oh." The woman glanced down at him, "Can I help you, young man?"

Naruto's grin widened; he was already off to a better start than last time, "Uhhh, do you have any kids?"

"Why, no. I don't." she examined him curiously, wondering if there was a point to this inquiry.

"Great!" Naruto reached over and tugged gently at her long jacket sleeve, "Can I borrow you? Just for Christmas!"

The woman blinked, surprised at the unusual request. After a moment, she just smiled, gently prying Naruto's hand away before giving him a kind pat on the head, "My, aren't you an adorable thing." The woman walked away, giggling to herself over the encounter.

A disappointed look crossed Naruto's face for a moment as he watched her leave. It vanished quickly enough as his bright eyes spied a man lugging an arm full of festively wrapped gifts through the street. Naruto ran up to him, following closely at his side, "Hey, Mister, who're all those presents for, huh?"

The man glanced over his packages at the boy, staring down through thin-rimmed glasses, "These? Oh, just some last minute presents for my children."

The blonde shinobi smiled wider, easily keeping pace with the man, "Hey! Could I come home with you?! I need a family for Christmas!"

"Excuse me?" the man arched a slender eyebrow.

"You don't got to buy me presents or anything like that!" Naruto's arms went out to the side, offering to carry some of the man's packages, "Please?"

The man halted a moment. He grimaced down at the young boy, then quickened his pace as he took off for home, muttering to himself, "Crazy kid…" Naruto pouted again, but was certainly not going to give in that easily. He adjusted his scarf, and then strolled up to the next person he came across and made the same proposition.

For hours, Naruto darted back and forth between passersby, being rejected again and again. Eventually, the street began to empty, leaving the Konoha ninja standing with only a few other people left to ask. But his bright and cheery demeanor was being quickly dimmed with depression. He was beginning to think that there was simply no one on this earth who wanted him around.

His latest request was shot down with a harsh, "Get lost, punk! I ain't got time for this!"

Naruto stood there for a long time, hungry from not stopping to eat, tired from not having slept, cold from tromping around in the snow, and heart-broken from countless rejections. He stared down at his feet, watching the light slowly sink behind him as day gave way to night. Why…was this so hard? Konohagakure was one thing—everyone there saw him as the demon fox, so they at least had an excuse to isolate him. But this village, this village was ostracizing him for no good reason at all. Naruto felt as if he had swallowed a boulder, his stomach twisted into knots over the realization that he would be alone and far from everyone he knew when Christmas came the day after tomorrow. He should just be used to it by now, and if he wasn't, he should get used to it; because there was no one who was willing to show him even a token amount of affection for the holidays. Naruto gnawed at his chapped lips, wondering what his next course of action could be. Should he just go back home, or maybe keep going in hopes of finding another village with kinder people? He shivered, eyes closing against the chill in the wind that night had brought on.

After a few heavy moments of silence, his eyes snapped back open at the sound of crunching snow and a young girl's voice, "But daddy, it's so cold."

"I know, but I can't afford a new jacket for Christmas. You'll just have to sew up your old one again." A grizzled looking man and a little girl walked between two of the houses just in front of Naruto's vision. Naruto felt his breath catch in hope. He hadn't asked them yet, and the father's eyes looked so kind. The little shinobi hurried over, his boots kicking up so much snow that he nearly tripped.

"Hey! Hey, wait a sec!" Naruto panted, catching their attention just before they had slipped out of sight.

The older man looked over at him in irritation, "What is it you want?"

"I just…" Naruto faltered. He recognized that look, the one that just screamed 'go away', "I was…I mean, could I come home with you for Christmas?" Bright blue eyes awaited the oncoming answer, hopeful, but not foolish enough to think it might really be a 'yes.'

The man's eyes narrowed, and he stepped out into the lighted street, towering over Naruto, "Listen here, brat. It's hard enough looking after my own kid, I can't give hand-outs to every stubborn brat on the street."

"It's not a hand out!" Naruto's voice started off forcefully, but slowly slipped back into that uncharacteristically soft tone, "I don't want gifts or anything. I just…want somewhere to be and…"

"Get out of my sight." The man turned back to his daughter, whose innocent brown eyes had trained on the shinobi since he had called out to them. He gave the child a gentle push to start her walking.

There was suddenly a loud "HEY!" Before the man could turn around, a bright orange winter coat and red scarf went slamming into his head. Stunned, the man tore the garments from his face and whirled around. Naruto stood there in his orange slacks and a black fishnet shirt, his Konoha headband clutched in his hand. He sent the old man a soft glare, then straightened out despite the bitter cold he now felt, "She looks cold." He offered no further explination than that, and just turned to find somewhere to spend the night, tying his headband back into place over his forehead.

The man and his daughter stared at the overly charitable ninja as he sulked off in the biting winter cold, rubbing his arms in an attempt to keep himself warm.

That, Naruto thought bitterly to himself, was what people SHOULD act like around Christmas.

Author's Closing Rant- I do so love angst! n.n;

Yes, yes, Naruto is nice even when everyone's being a jerk to him! It just seemed like something he would do.

Again, another rushed chapter—I really hope it's not affecting this story. I'm thinking about one more chapter should finish it off! So we'll probably get to the finale next update! Tune in next time to see how everything ends out! n.n


	4. Home

Author's Opening Rant- Cutting it a little close here, Fox! Yes, yes…I know. Not too many days left until X-mas, but…TA-DA! The Final Chapter of "Borrowing Christmas."

I have to thank all of you guys so very much for your kind and encouraging reviews. It really really does help the authors to read such wonderful reviews, and I thank you for taking the time to read my little fic here. I wouldn't get far in any of my stories without my reviewers, so thanks! I hope you've enjoyed this short little story of mine.

And yes—Anyone who wants him can take Naruto home for X-mas!

**Chapter 4- Home**

It was the early morning of Christmas Eve. And where was Uzumaki Naruto spending this holiday? In a hotel, miles from anyone he knew or cared about, jacket-less and cold, and out of money after paying for a room and his lukewarm breakfast. The blonde shinobi stared down at the food in front of him, mentally cursing his luck.

What had he ever done, in all of his twelve years, to deserve this? A cold breakfast, a colder day, and an absolutely frigid feeling within. Sure, he was mischievous, and…well, a little annoying, but was that really bad enough to be spending a lonely Christmas surrounded by happily chattering families? Naruto lifted his gaze from his food, slowly scanning the gathered people crowded into the hotel's dining room. Vacationing, most likely, and all grinning and smiling with anticipation over who would be getting what presents tomorrow morning. He watched as a father hugged his daughter, and as a son giggled from his mother's lap. That familiar feeling shifted in Naruto's gut, his eyes burning with the threat of oncoming tears. He stared back down at his breakfast, dejectedly, wishing he at least had some token memory of his family other than the ones he had made up as a child. Yes, when he was younger, Naruto would make up all kinds of crazy stories about how his parents were never around because they were the absolutely best ninjas in all of Konoha, even better than the Hokage, and they had so many missions to complete that they often had to leave him alone. It was all a lie. For all he knew, his parents weren't even ninjas, or maybe they never lived in Konohagakure. Or maybe he really never did have a family. But regardless, Naruto had made up his stories in hopes of impressing the other children, and also, to ease the suffocating loneliness of that empty apartment he lived in. It made the days easier to endure, hoping that someone might show up at anytime and shower him with love. But still, it was all a lie, and he knew it.

Naruto heaved a sigh. He lifted a piece of bread from his plate and tore into it, hoping he could wash away the feelings of sorrow and replace them with some kind of misdirected anger. He gnawed on the bread half hanging out of his mouth, muttering, resting his cheek into his palm, "Ahh…who needs stupid-ass Christmas anyway?! Halloween's a MUCH better holiday! Yeah! To hell with Christmas! Hah!" He smiled, not convincing himself or anyone around, but happy to be acting out instead of mentally kicking himself even more. He swallowed his bread, biting off another piece as he poked at the tepid meal in front of him, wondering if it still held any flavor. Anything to distract the lump of misery that had built up in his throat.

There was suddenly a light, airy ringing sound as the front door of the hotel was swung open. A quick blast of icy air entered the room, and Naruto shivered before twisting around in his seat out of curiosity. The girl at the front desk offered the newcomer a cheery "Merry Christmas," but only received an angry sounding grunt in reply. Naruto stretched his neck, peering over the back of his chair to get a good look. His bright blue eyes fell on a very familiar, very fish-faced man wielding a scaly looking sword . The little fox-boy nearly choked on his bread, suddenly recalling exactly who this man was: the one who had attacked him in the snowy forest, and the one who had attempted to kidnap him from another hotel room…with Sasuke's older brother. The memory of that encounter sent shivers up his spine; how easily the Chidori was swept aside, and how that mysterious black flame had lingered after their escape. Naruto definitely didn't want to mess around with these guys.

"_Crap! Crap, crap, crap!" _the blonde lowered himself in his chair to avoid being easily seen, _"Because I wasn't in a bad enough mood! What the hell's next?! Banning ramen forever?!" _ He watched as the fish-faced shinobi sent a scrutinizing glare across the dining room, more than likely looking for him, Naruto thought to himself. Kisame's eyes caught on a little blonde boy across the room with very similar hair, and Naruto decided to make a move for the exit. He slipped from his chair, just about crawling over the floor, his backpack weighing down most of his movements. Kisame didn't move though, and Naruto bit his bottom lip so hard that it turned white as he snuck soundlessly past the elder shinobi's leg.

And at the worst possible moment, Naruto's stomach growled.

"What the-?!" the noise called Kisame's attention, and the fishy Akatsuki member stared down in shock as he saw his target crouched right beside him.

Naruto was frozen for an instant. He then very nervously smiled, and waved upwards, "Ehhh…heh-heh…Merry Christmas?"

Kisame dove at him, "Come here, you!" Naruto bolted, dropping his backpack so he could move a little faster. The pack went slamming down on Kisame's head as he dove, knocking the Akatsuki member over and onto the floor. There was another light ringing as the door was forced open and Naruto dashed outside. Kisame regained himself, cursing freely as he went for the door and followed the little Gennin out into the snow, "I've got you this time, you little—OWWWW!" He reeled as a snowball—or rather, a ball of ice with some snow packed around it--belted him square in the eye. Kisame rubbed furiously at his eye, blinking against the numbing pain that had caused. When his vision had corrected himself, he found that he was staring down an entire hoard of Narutos, all packing snowballs.

"You want me, jackass?" Naruto smirked along with his thirty-something Shadow clones, "Then come and get me!" A flurry of snowballs was unleashed at Kisame, and all the stunned Akatsuki member could do was cover his face as the snow came raining down on him. "Take this! And this, and this, and this!" Naruto and his clones kept scooping up snow and launching it at his attacker, hoping this would keep him at bay long enough to escape. All of a sudden, Naruto heard the rapid crunching of approaching footsteps behind him, and he was abruptly lifted by his waist, his body held parallel to the ground as he flailed and shouted, "HEY!!! What gives?! Lemme go, you moron!"

To his horror, when Naruto looked up, he was staring into a pair of cruelly malicious Sharingan eyes. The Shadow Clone technique dropped as Uchiha Itachi spoke up, "Enough fooling around, Kisame. We have what we came for. Let's go." Kisame hurried to brush himself off as his partner appeared, his eye still stinging from the first hit.

Naruto was in serious trouble now. He squirmed like crazy, trying to break free of Itachi's iron grip, "I said lemme go!! Lemme go or else!! I'll kick your ass for this, you hear me?!" Itachi just looked down at him, crimson eyes shining with devious intent. Naruto flinched just from the look in the older Uchiha's eyes. But there was no one here to help, no one who cared…no one to save him…

"NARUTO!"

The blonde shinobi's head jerked up at the sound of the familiar voice, "Huh? Sasuke!?"

From seemingly out of nowhere, Uchiha Sasuke bolted down out of a tree, bright red Sharingan eyes narrowing as he sent a swift kick straight at his brother's head. Itachi easily avoided his brother's onslaught, able to fight just fine with only one hand. Naruto stared in utter shock; he thought Sasuke had gone home.

And of course, Sasuke never went very far without Sakura tagging along behind him. The pink-haired girl rushed in, at first catching Kisame off guard with a kunai to the shoulder, then hurrying to lend assistance, "Naruto, hang on!"

"Sakura-chan…Sasuke…" it would have been a touching moment for the blonde, if he weren't currently being tossed around like a rag doll in the midst of the Uchiha's fight. He squirmed, trying to pry Itachi's arm off, but still finding it difficult, even though the Akatsuki thug was engaged in a fierce battle, "LEMME GOOOOOO!!"

For the most part, even one handed, Itachi was overpowering his younger brother. But luckily, Sasuke and Sakura were not alone: Kakashi dashed up behind Itachi, a kunai knife in hand and his single Sharingan eye spinning. Fighting both of them off one handed proved more of a challenge for Itachi, and against his better judgment, he dropped Naruto to the ground, freeing his hand to crack Kakashi right across the jaw. The white-haired Jounin staggered backwards, but still had enough sense to shout orders to his three students, "Sasuke, Sakura! Get Naruto out of here! Hurry back to Konoha as fast as you can!"

"Right!" Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him roughly to his feet. Sasuke, however, lingered a moment, eyes seizing his older brother in a chilling glare. It would have been the perfect opportunity for revenge; Itachi was right in front of him and struggling in his fight with Kakashi. But Sasuke's murderous train of thought was interrupted by the Haruno kunoichi's voice, "Sasuke-kun! Come on, we have to go!" She recognized that look in his eyes—Sharingan or otherwise—and she wasn't sure that Sasuke could survive a fight with his brother as he was.

"…" the younger Uchiha slowly, and very reluctantly turned, jogging to catch up with his two teammates. There would be another time…and when that time came, No force on earth could save Itachi. But right now, the more important thing was getting the dobe back to the village, "…damn it…" Sakura allowed a soft sigh of relief to escape her lips as the three of them tore through the woods.

The fish-faced Akatsuki member quickly wrenched the kunai from his shoulder and scowled at the three retreating Gennin. "Oh no you don't!"

"Oh yes they do." Before Kisame could move to follow them, Iruka dropped from his perch high in the trees, an unusually dark look coming across the teacher's face as he reached back into his pouch and pulled out a hand full of shuriken, "You…will not lay a finger on Naruto…"

While the four ninjas battled it out, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto beat a hasty retreat back through the snow-covered forest. They ran as quickly as the slick snow would allow them to, constantly checking over their shoulders to see if they were being followed. Sakura kept pace with Sasuke, but Naruto jogged just a little distance behind them. The blonde shouted, staring at their backs as he came to a stop, "HEY!!! Wait a second! I told you already, I'm not going back yet!"

Sakura skidded to a stop, turning to face him, "But Naruto! It isn't safe for you to be this far from the village!"

"Not this crap again." Sasuke slowed down and turned about, quickly closing the distance between him and Naruto.

"It isn't crap!" the shorter boy screamed, startling a few birds from a nearby, snowy branch, "I don't go back on my words, Sasuke-teme! I said I'm not going back home until I've found a family!"

Sasuke snarled at him a moment. All at once, he snapped at the blonde, his voice surprisingly much louder than Naruto's, "What the hell do you need to find a family for when Sakura and I are standing RIGHT HERE?!" The statement echoed dully, then gave way to the whistling silence of the wind.

Naruto stared at him; eyes wide like azure crystals. There was no mistaking the meaning behind Sasuke's words, and it was a considerable shock. Even Sakura's green eyes trained on the younger Uchiha in astonishment. Sasuke almost immediately regretted the outburst, cursing himself for having said something like that as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned his back on Naruto. Naruto slowly regained himself, staring at Sasuke's face half hidden by his bangs, "Wait…you…you don't mean…it's not like a…"

"Naruto" Sakura smiled sweetly, approaching the two boys as she spoke, "Sasuke-kun is right. I know it's not like a _real_ family, but still…we care about you. Really. That's why we came all this way out here to find you! Everyone back home too, they're all so worried about you. So…instead of looking for some other family out here…wouldn't you rather spend Christmas at home with your real family?" Sasuke rolled his eyes at her speech, hoping he wouldn't throw up from the overly-sweetness of it all. He had said it better, anyway!

Naruto watched Sakura, and then let his eyes trail over to Sasuke who had turned his head to see the blonde's reaction. To think that they considered him family. To think that someone had cared that much about him. And to know that he had been so stubbornly blind to the whole thing. It was all too much at once, and a wave of relief mingled with guilt washed over the fox-boy. But more importantly, he felt…loved. Before he could do a thing about it, Naruto felt silent tears streaming down the sides of his face, "S-Sakura…chan…thank you…"

The kunoichi smiled at him, despite his noisy attempts at keeping his nose from running down his face, "Oh, Naruto…"

"Heh." Sasuke just smirked, "Don't tell me you're gonna cry now, dobe."

Naruto's face twisted in an effort to stop sobbing, "SHUT UP! I am not crying! I just…I got snow in my eye, bastard!"

"I'm so sure." Still sneering, Sasuke casually slipped his arms from his long black coat and tossed it at the crying shinobi, revealing a long sleeved, dark blue shirt imprinted with the Uchiha symbol underneath, "And where'd your jacket go, moron? Loose it?"

"My…Oh! Oh, I gave it away." Naruto quickly tugged on the black coat, grateful for the warmth, but soon finding that the end of it dragged slightly in the snow. He scowled; hoping neither of his teammates would crack a short joke at his expense.

"Gave it away?! But its freezing out he--" Sakura's question was cut off by a mass of shuriken raining down on the three Gennin. Sasuke and Sakura covered their heads, but Naruto just flopped over onto his backside to avoid the attack.

Slowly and calmly the sound of footsteps in the snow approached, and those wicked Sharingan narrowed on the three younger shinobi, "I have had enough of this. This ends right now."

"Itachi!" Sasuke growled through clenched teeth, quickly jumping between Naruto and his older brother. Sakura followed suit, standing in front of both of her teammates, a hand anxiously brandishing shuriken, and fully prepared to take a shot at Uchiha Itachi. Naruto stared up at both of them in grateful awe, unable to pull himself to his feet because of the continued shock of it all.

Itachi's glare turned deadly. He eyed Sakura, then Sasuke and Naruto. Dispatching with them would be simple enough, but it was becoming a real pain. Itachi slowly began to lift an arm to attack, but stopped as someone tapped him very rigidly on the shoulder. The looks on the three younger ninja's faces changed from determination to surprise, and the Akatsuki member turned to glare death at whomever was interrupting him. Itachi found himself face to face with a very large, and heavily armored, frog.

"Ahh, so this is where you brats took off to." Jiraiya, the famous frog hermit and legendary Sennin, spoke up from behind the armored toad, smiling wickedly at Itachi, "You caused me much more trouble than usual, Naruto. You're becoming a real burden, you know."

"E-ero-sennin…?" Naruto's already wide blue eyes went even wider. Just…how many people had come out looking for him?!

Jiraiya pouted down at the blonde, "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Itachi was not amused with their drabble. He knew better than to take on a Sennin by himself—it wasn't something he could do very easily. And he also knew damn well that this Sennin would be able to strike at him before Itachi could rush past and grab Naruto. The large frog ribbited at him, and Itachi just scarcely suppressed an angry snort. This round, it would seem, went to the pathetic little Konoha ninjas. He glanced back at the three Gennin an instant before a black flame crept swiftly up his body. Once the flames had receded, Itachi was gone without a trace. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto stared in disbelief, but Jiraiya just chuckled to himself.

"Oh well…I guess we won't have any fun today after all, Gamasamu. You can head on back." Jiraiya nodded to the large frog, which ribbited again before disappearing in a plume of smoke.

Sakura beamed at the Sennin, "Ero—Uhh, I mean, Jiraiya-sama! You chased him away!" Sasuke just growled, wondering why Itachi had run away like a little girl from the notorious pervert.

"Yes, yes…" Jiraiya stretched his shoulders as if he had put in a great effort, taking a seat on a nearby boulder, "I am impressive, aren't I? Heh Heh! Anyway, we can just wait here while Kakashi and Iruka catch up with us. Shouldn't be any reason to rush home now." He slipped a flask of sake from his outfit and took a sip; relieved he had arrived just in the nick of time.

"Yeah, yeah…don't get so full of yourself…" Naruto glared at him. His attention turned from the Sennin as a hand was offered to the blonde to help stand up. Naruto smiled as he took Sasuke's hand and stood, brushing the snow from the borrowed coat. As he did, he noticed something heavy in the pocket, "Huh? What's this?" Both slender blonde eyebrows rose in surprise as he pulled the poorly wrapped present from Sasuke's coat pocket.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Sasuke reached over and took the package, eyeing it a few times. He had stuffed the present into his pocket in his dash to collect Sakura and find Naruto without thinking twice about it, but now, he was more than a little curious as to what they had given him, "And this is from you both?"

"Uh-huh!" Sakura nodded, already blushing happily.

Naruto smiled one of his mischievous little smiles as he noticed to look of interest on the other boy's face, "Go ahead and open it, idiot!"

"Huh?"

Sakura nodded again, "Yeah! While we're both here! I want to see if you like it or not!"

"But it's Christmas _Eve_. I can wait another day." Sasuke quirked a brow at them, his curiosity being peeked more and more by the instant.

"Just open it!" Naruto insisted, nearly tearing the present from his hands and opening it for him, "Open it, open it, open it!"

"Alright!" Sasuke batted Naruto's hands away. He ignored the blissful squeak that Sakura gave as he began tearing the paper away, "…what is it, anyway? It feels like a picture frame. What am I supposed to do with--" Sasuke stopped speaking mid-sentence as his breath caught in his throat. It was a picture frame, with a very old picture of him, his mother, and his father. It had been taken during his first week at the ninja academy, he remembered, and in the picture, a much smaller Sasuke smiled widely from atop his father's shoulders as his mother giggled at them. One of the few pictures they had ever taken without Itachi in it. He stared in utter shock at the present. Where on earth…and how on earth…

Naruto took the stunned silence as a good sign, smiling over at Sakura, "See? I told you he'd like it!"

"How…did you two…" Sasuke glanced back at his two grinning teammates.

Sakura just about burst out with the explination, "You like it? We knew you didn't have any pictures of your parents left, so we dug this one up! It took a whole week! We had to go through all the old pictures at the academy, and then bring the negative into the photo place. Ohhh, do you really like it, Sasuke-kun?"

"Well…I…" Sasuke stared back down at the picture in his hands…then grimaced as a sickening thought hit him, "Oh, crap."

"What's wrong?" Sakura leaned in to see if the frame had cracked during one of the many fights they had been in.

Sasuke's onyx gaze went guiltily to the side as he felt an uneasy shifting in his stomach, "I…didn't get…anything. For either of you." In all the panic that Naruto's leaving had caused, Sasuke had lost his precious few days of Christmas shopping.

Sakura lifted a hand to cover her mouth, "That's right! Naruto! I didn't get you a single thing for Christmas!"

Naruto just smiled softly at the both of them, his hands resting in the pockets of the coat, "That's okay. I think you guys already gave me your presents." It was more than enough to feel as if he belonged somewhere, he didn't need something else wrapped up with a pretty bow.

Sasuke and Sakura stared at the blonde, all three of them happily grinning a silent understanding. From his seat on the boulder, Jiraiya broke into a wide grin. It certainly was a warm and fuzzy kind of holiday, this Christmas.

The rapid crunching of footsteps alerted everyone for an instant, but they all relaxed their guard as they caught sight of Iruka and Kakashi running over towards them, the Chuunin in the lead, "Naruto!"

"Iruka-sensei! Over here!" Naruto waved at his former teacher.

The little fox-boy was again consumed by surprise as his teacher caught him in a hug, "Naruto! You little idiot! Don't do such stupid things!"

"I…Iruka-sensei…?" Naruto squirmed at the unfamiliar feeling…staring sideways at Iruka, and turning a little red from embarrassment.

Iruka breathed a sigh of relief, "You…had me worried half to death." Behind him, Kakashi scratched at the back of his head, grinning under his dark mask.

Naruto could have kicked himself for ever thinking he had no one who cared about him. This time, though, he was able to keep the tears in check, and just pulled back to offer his teacher a happy little grin, "Hey, I'm in one piece, aren't I? Nothing to worry about, Iruka-sensei!" Iruka smiled back at the boy.

"Ahh…hate to interrupt." Kakashi spoke up, wagging a finger in the air, "But we really should get home. Iruka took a pretty severe wound to his back from that fish guy, and Sasuke looks about ready to turn into a ninja Popsicle." He glanced up, looking from Iruka's torn back over to Sasuke shivering in the snow. Jiraiya stood at the suggestion, slipping his sake back into his pocket.

Naruto glanced around at the gathered shinobi, his face beaming, "Yeah…let's go home already."

The six of them made it back to Konoha in time for Christmas. Of course, just as soon as Naruto had re-entered the village, Hinata had launched herself at him and whimpered sadly about how scared she had been. All of the Gennin had expressed similar concerns, which only made Naruto feel even better about being home. He hadn't gotten many Christmas presents, but he did get to spend Christmas day with Iruka-sensei, at the Ramen stand, with Sasuke and Kakashi, and even Sakura once she had finished with her own family's dinner.

Finally, Uzumaki Naruto felt as if he were home for Christmas.

Author's Ending Rant—That's all!! Don't complain if it's too short—it was a rush job for X-mas! Be glad it went past one chapter!

Ahh, all the fluffy, fuzzy feelings that should be around during Christmas! Yes, Naruto got the super-happy ending! Deal.

Ero-sennin means Pervert Sage, and Naruto ALWAYS calls Jiraiya this. Gamasamu is a name I created, Gama meaning frog and Samu being the first half of the word samurai.

Hope you all enjoyed this fanfic! And one last thing—

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

-Fox


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